The interim leadership at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary has been made official, trustees announced April 19.
David Dockery, 70, was named 10th president of the Southern Baptist Convention seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. O.S. Hawkins, 75, was named to a new role as chancellor.
Both men had been serving in interim roles since the sudden resignation of former President Adam Greenway last September. Dockery had been serving as interim president, and Hawkins had been serving as senior advisor and ambassador-at-large.
“David Dockery is God’s man for Southwestern Seminary in this hour,” trustee Chairman Danny Roberts said. “Our seminary is at a critical juncture in this 115-year history, and in God’s providence, he has already provided the man to lead our seminary during this time.”
That “critical juncture” includes reversing years of enrollment decline and a financial crisis created by the two previous administrations. Once the largest seminary in the world, Southwestern today is one of the smallest of the SBC’s six seminaries.
Dockery and Hawkins inherited a multi-million-dollar budget deficit that seven months later still has not been publicly explained by the seminary. Fall 2022 enrollment appeared to have stabilized, however, at least staunching the decline of the previous decade.
The decline in enrollment and in financial stability began under the administration of Paige Patterson, who was president from 2003 to 2018. Those challenges continued under the three years of Greenway’s administration.
Both Dockery and Hawkins are veterans of institutional administration. Hawkins was a well-known Southern Baptist pastor who spent the last part of his career as president of GuideStone Financial Resources, the SBC’s retirement and benefits management provider.
Dockery is a former professor and administrator at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Union University and Trinity International University. He served as president at both Union and Trinity. After leaving Trinity in 2019, he joined the Southwestern Seminary faculty, then served as interim provost before being named interim president.
Both Dockery and Hawkins are Southwestern Seminary alumni with deep ties to the institution and its Southern Baptist constituency.
Dockery’s election as president is the second time in the school’s history for a president to be named without a search committee process, Chairman Roberts said. The first was L.R. Scarborough, who in 1915 became the seminary’s second president, chosen by the seminary’s founding president, B.H. Carroll. Scarborough led the school 27 years.
“We recognize that we stand on the shoulders of so many who’ve gone before us,” Dockery said. “I love this institution and the best aspects of its history. We will, with God’s help, seek to carry forward in the future the best of Southwestern’s heritage and the Southwestern’s spirit.”
Roberts said Hawkins will serve as chancellor, as a volunteer, and will report to Dockery by providing “counsel, offer support and guidance, develop contacts, raise funds, and bring his influence, credibility, and goodwill and gravitas to our seminary community.”
Hawkins is a Fort Worth native who came to Christian faith as a high school student and was mentored by Fred Swank, the legendary pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church. Through Swank, Hawkins met his lifelong friend Jack Graham, who now is pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, and is a former SBC president.
Hawkins and Graham are but two of a host of young ministers nurtured by Swank during his 42-year pastorate at Sagamore.
On April 18, the day seminary trustees were meeting to name Dockery and Hawkins to their new roles, Greenway tweeted about his experience at Southwestern: “Many have asked about what really happened re: me and @SWBTS. I have not commented publicly before now, and will not say much at this time, except to say that I fully expected an updated summary to be provided by the seminary some time ago now. Why it has not, I do not know.”
Related articles:
Faculty have borne the brunt of Greenway administration at Southwestern, former professor says
What happened at Southwestern and why does it matter? | Analysis by Mark Wingfield
Why O.S. Hawkins is right for the job | Opinion by Maina Mwaura
Confirmed: Greenway out at Southwestern Seminary
